A disturbing revelation

Monday

Jun 17, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 17, 2013 at 9:27 AM

Ohio has only four youth prisons, so state leaders should speedily assess just how it is that three of them made it onto a national shortlist of 13 institutions where kids are most likely to be raped or sexually assaulted. The source of this report is credible: the federal Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The problem is that those surveyed - youths in lockup - might not be.

Ohio has only four youth prisons, so state leaders should speedily assess just how it is that three of them made it onto a national shortlist of 13 institutions where kids are most likely to be raped or sexually assaulted.

The source of this report is credible: the federal Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. The problem is that those surveyed — youths in lockup — might not be.

Ohio now aims to incarcerate only hard-core delinquents; most errant youths are sent to county-based programs for drug treatment, intense probation, community service and counseling.

As a result, those participating in the new federal survey were deeply troubled to start with. As of January, 52 percent were on the mental-health caseload; 91 percent of the girls were. More than half require special-education services. And many report prior sexual or physical abuse.

The veracity of the kids surveyed is in question. But predators also seek out just such children, ones who are predisposed to abuse, have low self-esteem and who are least likely to be believed if they tell. These also are the kids most likely to allow themselves to be taken advantage of, either by adult caretakers or by abusive peers, in exchange for protection or favorable treatment.

The study is disturbing. Circleville Juvenile Correctional Facility was ranked second-worst in the nation, with a sexual-assault rate of 30.3 percent.

The two other Ohio juvenile correctional facilities that made the national list of 13 were Scioto, with a 23.2 percent rate, and Cuyahoga Hills, with a 19.8 percent rate. Only the Indian River facility didn’t appear.

The survey (at http://1.usa.gov/11vfUDR) was conducted last year of 8,707 youth in 326 state or privately operated facilities.

On Friday, Gov. John Kasich convened an emergency task force to look at all four facilities. At the helm is Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the adult prison system; he brings a reputation for rooting out problems and devising innovative solutions.

Ohio’s youth facilities have had serious issues for at least a decade, and until recently were under monitoring by the U.S. District Court in Columbus for documented health and safety threats, including manhandling by staff members, long periods of isolation and a lack of educational services and mental-health and medical care.

Ohio has come a long way since, recognizing that youths can’t be treated like hardened adult criminals. With community-based treatment, the incarcerated population dropped from 2,000 to fewer than 500 kids in five years. With far fewer kids and court monitoring, it is stunning to be told that Ohio’s youth prisons harbor such horrific and pitiful abuse.

Court monitor Will Harrell, however, thinks the study overestimates the number of sexual assaults. “Something of that proportion would have come to our attention, and it just did not,” he told The Dispatch.

If the problems are substantiated by Kasich’s task force, Ohio’s juvenile corrections facilities clearly require a housecleaning and a stronger hand. But it also is possible that the study reflects that Ohio juvenile prisons now are populated with kids who are extraordinarily troubled.